Rosenkranz Remarks

Recommended Reading: Zero To One

Peter Thiel, who debated with Intelligence Squared U.S. on the resolution “Too Many Kids Go To College,” has written a new book: Zero to One.

Zero to One is a refreshing example of original, contrarian thinking. FFor Peter, it is not competition but monopoly that is key to successful capitalism. Highly competitive businesses drive profits down to levels that stifle investment, risk taking, and innovation.

Often their idea of progress is some minor marginal improvement in service, or some irritating attempt to cut costs. The airline industry is a good example.

But certain businesses are natural monopolies in the sense that both buyers and sellers want to converge on a single marketplace to connect with each other efficiently. Ebay, Amazon, AirBnB, Alibaba, and Uber are examples; and in each case they innovated by creating a category of business activity that barely existed before, but which now we can hardly imagine living without.